The invention disclosed and claimed herein pertains generally to a method and apparatus for treating tissue contained within the body of a mammal by vibrating a gas filled cavity, which is proximate to such tissue, at its mechanical resonance frequency. More particularly, the invention pertains to such method and apparatus wherein the cavity is contained in a fluid medium within the mammal, and wherein cavity resonance comprises a first phase of treatment which is to be followed by one or more successive treatment phases.
At present, various techniques are available for the treatment of human or other mammalian body tissue by means of sonic or acoustic waves. Such techniques may be categorized according to the frequency range at which treatment occurs, the frequency range of a technique determining its operating principle. For example, mechanical vibrators, such as massagers and the like, are operated in a range on the order of 60 Hz-120 Hz to couple mechanical vibrations to organic structures by direct contact. Directly coupled vibrations of such frequencies tend to stimulate circulation and relax tense muscles and high strung nerves.
Another class of devices for treating mammalian tissue are those which operate by converting sonic waves into heat at the locations of the treated tissue. Such devices operate in the ultra high sonic frequency range, which is on the order of 800,000 Hz-3,000,000 Hz. The use of such ultra high frequencies in medical therapy for humans is limited by the need to avoid overheating of tissue, to prevent damage thereto.
In a third type of treatment, sonic waves are generated in the low ultrasonic frequency range, which is on the order of 500 Hz-600,000 Hz, to perform micromassage of discrete cells which comprise tissue structure. Such treatment techniques are exemplified by the disclosures of two patents issued to L. Balamuth on Mar. 10, 1970, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,499,436 and 3,499,437, respectively.
It is to be noted that none of the above techniques employs the vibrations of a gas filled macrocellular cavity, contained within a mammal proximate to tissue to be treated, to accomplish a first phase in therapeutic or other treatment. Yet it is anticipated that by selectively and controllably resonating such a cavity, a number of diverse and very useful tasks may be accomplished which are related to the diagnosis or therapy of various types of health problems. For example, by resonating the lung cavity of a human patient, foreign material such as tar, asbestos or silicone adhering to lung tissue of the patient could be loosened therefrom. The loosened material could then be removed by coughing, or by flushing the lungs with a saline solution, according to a conventionally known procedure. As far as is known, the only other available technique for removing such foreign material is by surgical methods, with their inherent dangers and discomforts.
Lung cavity resonance may also be employed to determine the condition of a patient's lungs or to detect certain health problems. In addition, it has been found that by resonating the lung cavity of an experimental animal at a sufficiently high intensity, lung tissue of the animal may be deliberately damaged in a pattern which very closely resembles the damage which is caused thereto when the animal is afflicted with emphysema. By producing such damage, proposed cures for emphysema may be tested on the animal without the need to actually induce emphysema in it.